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Roth’s defense helps earn him minutes

by in Media | January 12th, 2012

When sixth man Will Sheehey went down with an ankle injury, Indiana needed another bench player to step up. The “next man up” philosophy that coach Tom Crean and the players often reference was suddenly a reality.

Derek Elston, Tom Pritchard and Remy Abell figured to take the majority of Sheehey’s minutes. But it has been senior Matt Roth — a guy that’s been at Indiana through all the turmoil — who has filled Sheehey’s shoes as well as anyone.

Roth can shoot the ball as well as anybody on the Hoosiers’ roster — and probably the country — but he has been used only sparingly as a 3-point specialist during his time at Indiana.

In previous seasons, Roth battled injuries and had been a defensive liability. The latter didn’t allow Crean the luxury of keeping him on the floor for more than a few minutes.

But with the opportunity created by Sheehey’s absence, Roth has displayed a new focus and effort on the defensive end. Without his work on defense, Roth would likely still be a sparingly-used 3-point specialist — with or without Sheehey.

“It’s helped him stay on the court. That’s the biggest area,” Crean said. “There are teams that they, it happens, they have things that they go to when he’s in the game. … He takes that personal and he’s really trying to build on that. His improvement level is high. He’s getting better, he can get better, and he’s worked extremely hard.”

What changed? Crean said Roth is playing with more toughness than he did in the past.

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Hoosiers use barrage of threes to down Penn State

by in Media | January 8th, 2012

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – For a 2:26 stretch in the first half, Indiana knocked down 3-point field goals on five consecutive possessions.

Shots falling from beyond the arc were a common sight at the Bryce Jordan Center on Sunday, as Indiana used a barrage of 3-pointers to beat Penn State 88-82 and snap its 16-game losing streak in Big Ten road games.

The No. 12 Hoosiers (15-1, 3-1 Big Ten), who entered the game with a nation’s-best 45.6 three-point field goal percentage, sunk 16 of their 24 3-point attemps.

“This is a hard-earned victory. This is a tough league. It’s the No. 1 league in the country for a reason,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “We knew that we were going to have to play at a very high level.”

Jordan Hulls tallied seven of Indiana’s 3-point field goals, and recorded a career-high 28 points, also a game-high. The junior guard from Bloomington took only two shots inside the 3-point line, making neither, and scored his other seven points off late-game free throws.

Matt Roth came off the bench and hit five 3-pointers of his own, finishing with 22 points. Cody Zeller and Christian Watford each added 10.

“(Penn State) made it hard for us a couple of times. But that’s where that extra pass was excellent,” Crean said. “I think Jordan shooting the ball the way that he did, it gets really hard to back off those guys.”

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HD Video: Jordan Hulls, Matt Roth on win at Penn State

by in Video | January 8th, 2012

Jordan Hulls (career-high 28 points) and Matt Roth (22 points) met with the media following No. 12 Indiana’s 88-82 win over Penn State on Sunday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center. Watch and listen to their comments in high-definition video in the embedded player below:

Jake Kaplan is a freelance sports journalist based out of State College, Pa. He’s a former intern at USA TODAY and The Philadelphia Inquirer and will graduate from Penn State in May. Follow him on Twitter at jakemkaplan

The Minute After: Penn State

by in The Minute After | January 8th, 2012

Thoughts on a 88-82 win against Penn State:

It rained threes inside the Bryce Jordan Center this afternoon.

Seven from Jordan Hulls on nine attempts. Five from Matt Roth on six attempts. Sixteen in total on 24 attempts (66.7%) for the Hoosiers. This sort of barrage was in the cards heading into this one. As Alex wrote yesterday — and as the Big Ten Network’s Tom Hart noted on the broadcast (thanks for the shout-out!) — Indiana is the best 3-point shooting team in the nation. Penn State gives up the second highest percentage of opponent points from behind the 3-point line in the country. Still, this sort of gaudy display was a treat and highlighted just how deadly Hulls and Roth are when they get open looks.

But the Nittany Lions would not go down quietly amidst the 3-point flurry. Pat Chambers has his kids playing hard. Some late-game half-court trapping and full-court pressure put the heat on the Hoosiers and caused a few turnovers. The last two minutes dragged, as Penn State made a serious run at pulling off a come-from-behind victory, trailing by just two with 21 seconds to play after getting a few quick, easy buckets at the rim. But some clutch free throw shooting by — who else? — Hulls and Roth shut the door on Penn State’s run.

The Hoosiers, no matter how it looked, picked up just their second conference road win in Tom Crean’s tenure and moved to 15-1 (3-1) on the season. They will take it.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS AND STATS:

+ Indiana’s defense has regressed a bit so far this Big Ten season. And such a notion was on full display in Happy Valley. The Hoosiers allowed 82 points to a middling Penn State offensive unit — which tied for the most points the Nittany Lions have scored this season. (They also had 82 points in a win against Youngstown State during the non-conference slate.) Indiana also allowed Penn State to score 1.18 points per possession. The Nittany Lions scored 36 points in the paint this evening, as the Hoosiers didn’t do a particularly good job of stopping penetration. Penn State was very good with the ball, turning it over only nine times (13.0 TO%). Indiana, meanwhile, turned it over 16 times and Penn State was able to score 18 points off of them.

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HD Video: Hulls, Roth and Watford on UMBC win

by in Video | December 22nd, 2011

Christian Watford, Jordan Hulls and Matt Roth met with the media following Indiana’s 89-47 win against UMBC on Thursday evening at Assembly Hall. Watch and listen to the entire press conference in the embedded player below:

HD Video: Elston, Etherington, Roth after Stony Brook win

by in Video | November 11th, 2011

Watch and listen to what Austin Etherington, Derek Elston and Matt Roth had to say following IU’s season opening 96-66 win over Stony Brook in high definition quality in the embedded media player below:

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